MODELING PESTICIDE VOLATILIZATION FROM TURF

Pesticide volatilization is a potential health hazard to turf users. Modeling pesticide volatilization can provide an effective tool for estimating environmental impact where complete information is unavailable. In the model developed, pesticide volatilization was directly related to the time dependent variables of potential evapotranspiration, pesticide vapor pressure and the amount of pesticide remained on the leaf surface. The latter was simulated as a first order pesticide degradation term and accounted for the rapid decrease in surface volatilization over time. The model was tested against data from literature and compared to an existing model. The simulated volatilizations predictions were realistic and compared well with the observed data, thus resulting in an improvement over the existing model.